At CNBC, a strict guest policy

2/15/13 12:36 PM EST

Pro tip for financial executives and billionaire investors: If you want to appear on CNBC on Tuesday, do not give an interview to Bloomberg TV on Monday.

CNBC, until recently the only player in the financial television news game, has established a strict, some say ruthless, policy for its guests: Come to us first, or don't come to us at all.

In interviews with POLITICO, current and former CNBC guests, including financial executives from major American companies, said that they had to decline booking requests from rival networks, including Bloomberg TV and Fox Business, due to "CNBC rules." Some said their appearance on a rival network had resulted in CNBC cancelling a previously scheduled booking.

"CNBC always wants to be first, so they will insist on having the first interview or they will not cover you," one financial services executive told POLITICO. "That's true even if it's a day later on a totally different topic. It's juvenile."

"If they see you on a competing channel they won't invite you back for a week or so," said one source who was formerly a regular guest on CNBC. "They'll call and ask if you've been on another network. If you say, 'Yes,' then they won't invite you. If you say, 'No,' they'll book you and ask you to hold a time. But then they might cancel the booking at the last minute. I don't know of any other channel that does this."

The extent of the freeze-out varied, according to sources who had experienced it. Some said it was only for a 24-hour period, others a 48-hour period. One said he was forced to turn down a Thursday booking with a rival network because he was scheduled to appear on CNBC the Tuesday of that same week.

Brian Steel, senior vice president of public relations at CNBC, did not directly dismiss the charge, though he noted that there was no written policy regarding guests' appearances on other networks.

"I spoke with several reporters and checked our news practices and guidelines manual and I could not find the policy," he told POLITICO. "However, nobody seemed surprised that CEOs would cancel appearances on other networks to appear on CNBC first."

That attitude indicates just how long CNBC has been the top — and until recently, the only — player in the financial television news business. But in recent years, Bloomberg TV has gained traction. The exact growth is hard to measure, because Bloomberg TV is not rated by Nielsen. But its access to the full resources of the Bloomberg media and financial services empire, including the Bloomberg terminal, have made it an influential player on Wall Street. As a result, some sources said, CNBC's booking strategy had become stricter.

Andrew Morse, the head of Bloomberg TV, declined to comment on CNBC's practices, but said that blocking guests from rival networks was harmful to the free flow of information.

"I can't comment on the specifics here, but we're in the news business. It's a contact sport. That said, I believe it's our job to report the news, and to be sure that we don't, in any way, impede the free flow of news for our audience," he said.

Booking is a cut-throat business across the television industry, as evidenced by the competition between morning network shows like NBC's "Today" and ABC's "Good Morning America." But sources said they didn't know of any channel that would forgo a high-profile guest solely because he or she had already appeared on another network.

"Of course Bloomberg would like to have you first. But they'd rather have you second then not have you at all, and they tend to be adults about it," a financial executive said. "CNBC is the only one who is petulant about it. It's so junior-high it's absurd."